Historical ContextsSince the dawn of civilization, a lot of important things have happened. Here are lists of about the many winding routes we took to get where we are today.
Updated April 4, 2022 5.4k votes 1.1k voters 65.2k views
List Rules
Vote up the historical perspectives that leave you questioning everything.
Historical perspective can play with one's mind, something Twitter dove deep into recently. One Tweeter pointed out that Harriet Tubman was born during Thomas Jefferson's lifetime - and died after Ronald Reagan was born. This opened up the floodgates and people started offering their own historical tidbits that made them question, well, everything.
The existential crisis that resulted from the exercise left us pretty shaken. Maybe not "fetal position under the desk" shaken, but close.
Here's what they offered up. Vote up the ones that have you questioning your own existence - and the existence of time itself.
Evidence of Indigenous groups in North America traces back at least 13,000 years ago, while the first European explorers and settlers established contact with Native Americans in North America in 1513. Citizenship was given to Native Americans across the United States in 1924, with the last state granting Native Americans voting rights in 1962.
The last Native American residential school funded by the Canadian government closed in 1983.
The Declaration of Independence was signed in July 1776 and, just a few months later, the Continental Congress officially adopted the name the "United States of America." As a country with 245 years of history in the rearview mirror, this looks relatively short compared with how long Elizabeth II of England has been on the throne.
Elizabeth became queen of England in 1952, 69 years ago as of 2021. This means Elizabeth has been queen for 28% of the time the US has been a nation.
Bram Stoker's Dracula was first published in 1897, and Dracula could very well have worn Levi's clothing, which was invented during the mid-19th century. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for making riveted pants in 1873.
The Nintendo company, which initially sold playing cards, was established in 1889, three years after pharmacist John S. Pemberton created Coca-Cola.
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 reshaped government and society in Japan, efforts that required the removal of samurai from the country. During the 1870s, samurai became increasingly obsolete and ceased to exist.
The life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln overlapped with the final decades of the samurai as well as the invention of the "electric printing telegraph" by Alexander Baine in 1843.
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Until 2015, The UK Was Still Paying Off Those Who Enslaved People
In 2015, the treasury of the United Kingdom reported it had made the final payment to descendants of owners of enslaved people. The agreement to do so originated with legislation from the 1830s by which the government agreed to pay former owners of enslaved people for "loss of human property" incurred when the people were freed.
Cleopatra was born in 70 or 69 BCE and became co-ruler of Egypt with her brother in 51 BCE. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built circa 2600-2500 BCE, about 2,500 years before Cleopatra was born.
The time between Cleopatra's life and modernity is roughly 2,100 years, meaning she was closer to being a contemporary of ours than the builders of the pyramids.
